Reno Hilton, NV – morning

Welcome to what I believe to be the first update written in the morning.  I just woke up in the Reno Hilton, and I’ve got a phone line, so it’s time for a quick update.

So why is the RV guy waking up in the Reno Hilton?  Well, Roberta Verona is at the doctor again.  This time, she needed more than a day’s worth of work on her, so the guy who runs the RV/truck repair center (who apparently has accounts to fix all the tour buses and shuttle buses for the all the hotels in the area) gave me a name to drop at the Hilton for a cut rate room.  Suzy got into Reno late the night before last, so she gets to partake of the windfall.

Although by about six yesterday evening I was doing fine, I swear, at noon, I was ready to quit.  The night before I had talked to Susie and Bill about the repairs that had gone on so far, and that there seemed to be a radiator clog (I tried to have the oil and coolant changed, but the quick lube place wasn’t able to get the coolant to drain, and the recommended I take it to a radiator specialist), so there might be another bill the next day or so.  Suzy flew in late late late at night, and we had to get up really early to get the RV into the radiator place first thing so that they could work me in.  Well, after getting there and unhooking the Tracker in a parking lot that simply was not adequately sized for the task, the guy at the desk (who was the one I talked to the night before and had said “bring it on in”) tells me of different place to take it to.  Grrr.  I had to rehook the Tracker and turn around in this parking lot.  No fun.

Then I get to the new place, and I’m a little relieved to see a bunch of RVs and similar vehicles around.  Apparently this place knows what they’re doing.  We drop off the RV and go to get some breakfast.

After breakfast, I called to get the estimate.  The guy had a novel’s worth of stuff that had to be done, no way to do it in a day, and it was going to cost…

Well, I supposer the actual number isn’t important.  But imagine what they charge an hour to work on these things, than multiply that by more than a day’s worth of hours, and add parts.  I really thought I was going to be sick right there in the restaurant (which would have made an unfair and inaccurate statement, because breakfast was actually very tasty).

I made some phone calls to try and figure out what to do, got a couple answering machines whose tape I probably completely used up (if you’ve ever gotten a phone message from me, you know I kind of run on.  Imagine if I’m in Reno [which, by the way, is very similar to Vegas, but without the classy finish…] with a sick RV and not enough money to make it well.

I’ll skip the other frustrating details and cut to the happy ending.  I have a really great family, and once we were actually able to talk, we got things worked out.  The RV is being fixed, and I’ve got my feet up in a nice hotel for cheap.

I think I’m going to go have another nice breakfast…